CHAPTER SIX
Kise walked in silence, still holding Suzume gingerly in his arms. They heard a loud wail accompanied by sobs echo from the room they just left, but no one was even slightly sympathetic.
There was a tense silence between the two, and the girl felt anger radiating off him in waves. She made herself smaller, feeling a little intimidated by him, and also feeling like she was the one who did something wrong.
"Put me down." She said in a tiny voice. "I can walk, I'm fine, only have few bruises."
He hesitated, then put her down obediently. She drew herself up to her full height (168cm) and turned to face Kise.
"You should've told me." He spoke, voice deep and solemn.
Suzume looked away and kept on walking. "T-tell you what?"
He sighed. "About Hitomi, and how she treated you."
"I don't need to tell you. It has nothing to do with you." She retorted, recovering some of her confidence.
Kise grabbed her shoulders, making her stop, and whirled her around to face him. "Nothing to do with me?! It was because of me! And I'd told you I'll be your friend, right? I told you I'll be here for you!" He shook her a little.
She winced at his outburst. "Well you were such great friends I didn't think you would believe me! And you're so easily fooled by appearances! If it wasn't for you bothering me in the first place they wouldn't have targeted me now would they?" She raised her voice too, angry at him. Suzume freed herself from his grasp and strided off in the dark.
The blonde just stood there, staring after the disappearing figure.
He wanted to argue, he wanted to say that she was wrong, but he couldn't. Because all that she said was true. It was all because of him. It was his fault.
Kise slammed the ball into the net, with more force than necessary. He was letting all of his frustration out by doing basketball and exercising.
He went back to the middle line and did a layup, but the ball bounced on the backboard and bounced out again. He let out a scream of frustration, sinking onto the ground and burying his fingers in his hair.
"Kise-kun." Someone called.
That familiar voice. Which belonged to a certain 168cm person.
"Kuroko-cchi!" (A/N: Ha! Bet you all thought it was Suzume! Je suis tres evil)
A tall redhead also came into view. "So that's Kise Ryota?"
"Huh...?" Kise blinked.
"Kise-kun, this is Kagami Taiga, he goes to Seirin and is on the basketball team with me." Kuroko explained.
Kagami grunted. "Bet I can beat you."
"Wanna try?"
"Not today, it's too dark."
"Then when?"
The light-blue-haired male interrupted them. "Kise-kun, you should visit us at Seirin sometime."
Kise grinned, though it wasn't as bright as usual. "Sure!" Anything to take his mind off that hurt look on her face when she walked away... He shouldn't have yelled at her. It wasn't her fault. "Maybe we can organise a practise match together! I miss you, Kuroko-cchi... Come to Kaijo with me!"
"No thank you." He declined politely.
They talked some more, basically just arguing about 'coming to Kaijo', or rather, more like 'not coming to Kaijo'.
The blonde felt his depression lift slightly as he filled his mind with basketball.
It was Saturday the next day, and apparently Seirin has basketball training on Saturday mornings too, so Kise travelled over to see those guys.
"Kagami! Kuroko-cchi!" He called loudly, skipping into the gym.
There was the familiar thud of the ball being bounced and squeaks of the shoes as everyone turned this way and that. As he came in, everyone stopped and stared at this strange newcomer.
Riko blinked. "Kagami-kun? Kuroko-kun? You know this blondie?"
"Nope. No way." Kagami shook his head fiercely.
"He's from the GoM." Kuroko deadpanned.
"Ahhhh." Their Coach nodded knowingly. "So even the GoM has ditzes like him."
Kise pouted and started wailing. "Noooooo-ssu! So mean~ Wait, I forgot, I don't know all of you!"
Everyone sweatdropped. "He really is such a ditz..." Hyuga commented. "Hyuga Junpei, I'm the captain."
"Izuki Shun, and I'm the funny, punny guy!" He said, sparkling.
"Oh shut up already..." A girl pushed him.
After everyone introduced himself, he grinned.
"Good morning everyone! I am Kise Ryota!" He twirled around and made a pose, as if expecting applause, but everyone stayed silent.
"I think we all know already, jeez." That same girl said, looking amused. "And hey! You guys forgot about me! I didn't get to introduce myself!"
Kagami rubbed the top of her head. "'S because you're not important." He grunted.
Surprisingly, she grabbed his hair and yanked him down to eye level. "I am your senpai! And I am to be respected!" She hissed, looking pretty creepy for a second there before she let go and grinned brightly again.
...Well, someone has a double personality.
"I'm Hirai Chika! But just Chika is fine. Ooh, and I'm also the basketball club's manager."
Kise beamed back. "I've come today to organise a practise match! Since I go to Kaijo!"
"A practise match..." Riko considered. "With Kaijo... Sure!" There was a gleam in her eye.
They organised the date, and time, and soon Riko was happily skipping away everywhere. Kise left after getting declined by Kuroko for the millionth time, and Seirin went back to practise.
Meanwhile, Suzume was in her house, killing time.
She decided to practise the clarinet for a while before she got bored. Sora was at a friend's house for a sleepover that lasted til tomorrow, and there was still no spark of inspiration.
Having absolutely nothing more to do, she grabbed a fluffy jacket and walked out the front door, locking it behind her.
"Huh, it's May already..." She stated. "It's getting warmer."
Wandering around aimlessly, Suzume came to a stop in front of an icecream shop. Well, why not?
"A mango sugar cone, please." Licking her icecream, she exited the shop, not really looking where she was going.
She felt herself go headfirst into a wall of hard muscle. "Ouch!" A strong hand held her arm, and kept her from falling further.
"Oh tha-" Her throat dried up. She stared up into chocolate brown eyes, and ruffled blonde hair, then quickly looked back down again. "Hi."
He blinked, seeming shocked for a while. "S-Suzu-cchi!"
She looked disgruntled. "Your hard chest is going to give my head a bruise."
Kise laughed nervously. She didn't seem too upset by his outburst yesterday, so... are things still okay with them? "H-hey?"
"Yeah?"
"A-are you okay?"
"Yeah... ?" Suzume was weirded out. Who asked someone if 'they're okay', just randomly?
"Oh, that's good." He let out a sigh of relief. "So we're still friends?"
She smiled a little sarcastically. "We were never friends in the first place, Kise."
"Whaaaaat?" He complained.
~Flashback~
"Daddy! Daddy, look what I found!" Suzume (five years old) was holding up a stag beetle and looking proud of herself.
"Yes, how lovely." He briefly glanced over, but went straight back to organising documents.
Her mother was too busy with one-year-old Sora, so she always bothered her father, but...
She watched, feeling a little lonely, as her dad kept working on his documents. He always loved working, but sometimes that got in the way of family time.
"Daddy!" Suzume grinned. "Daddy Maddy Baddy Daddy!" She giggled.
He finally snapped. "Kikuchi Suzume. You can see clearly that I'm working, and you know not to disturb me. You are a bad girl, bad girl. How many times have I told you this? I have to time for nonsense. Go to bed. Now."
Tears formed in her eyes. She knew she was wrong, but he didn't have to be so mean about it. The young girl turned around and tottered off to her bedroom, blowing Sora a kiss in the process.
~Flashback End~
Suzume bolted up in her bed. There was sweat on her forehead and tears in her eyes. She didn't like thinking about her unhappy childhood, and dreams about them were the worst.
They were so vivid it was like living through them again, and she definitely didn't want that.
Warm tears rolled down her cheeks, and she roughly wiped them off. Now was not the time to feel sorry for herself.